• In a discussion with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stated that he does not care about the “Palestinian issue.”
• Saudi Arabia continues to grant access to Israeli airspace and maintains its investment ties with Israel.
According to a report by The Atlantic, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he does not personally care about what he referred to as the “Palestinian issue.” The conversation took place during Blinken’s visit to Saudi Arabia in January, where they discussed the possibility of normalising relations with Israel amidst the ongoing genocide on Gaza.
The crown prince expressed a desire for calm in Gaza if a normalisation deal were to proceed. The Atlantic also reported that Blinken asked whether Saudi Arabia could tolerate periodic Israeli military operations in Gaza. Mohammed bin Salman reportedly replied, “Seventy percent of my population is younger than me. For most of them, they never really knew much about the Palestinian issue. And so they’re being introduced to it for the first time through this conflict. It’s a huge problem. Do I care personally about the Palestinian issue? I don’t, but my people do, so I need to make sure this is meaningful.”
A Saudi official has since called this account of the conversation “incorrect.” In a recent public statement, Mohammed bin Salman has maintained that Saudi Arabia will not normalise relations with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. However, despite this declaration, Saudi Arabia has continued to provide access to Israeli airspace, preserved its land bridge with Israel, and refrained from severing its investment ties.
According to a poll conducted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 96% of Saudis oppose normalisation with Israel.
